Another Antivaxxer Gish Gallop of Myths Easily Debunked

An anti-vaxxer on Twitter threw out this Facebook post....and then ran. 

https://www.facebook.com/1226764214/posts/10213347092171581/

We see this kind of gish gallop tactic frequently and each one of these points has been addressed ad nauseum but continue to be perpetuated by anti-vaxxers.  These aren't facts, these are simply tropes that have been debunked - links to dispel these myths are plentiful.

• "The current CDC vaccination schedule has never been tested collectively for safety."

Of course they've been tested - and for decades.  Not surprisingly, they have a very very good safety record.

Vaccine Safety Datalink Publications

• "There are 13 CDC scientists that have come forward saying that the CDC is committing scientific fraud."

This is referring to the "Spider" scientists and they make claims against the CDC in an area that has absolutely nothing to do with vaccines.  It's one of many "poisoning the well" fallacies.  

Spider Letter

• """Willam Thompson, Senior CDC Scientist, turned over 10,000 documents to Congressman Bill Posey, which showed that the CDC lied, destroyed, and manipulated data which suggested the MMR vaccine did and can cause Autism."

The CDC never lied, destroyed, nor manipulated data in their MMR/autism study.  The data in question was demonstrated to be spurious

The William Thompson Documents - There's No Whistle To Blow

• ""The VICP has paid out over $3.3 Billion in vaccine injury cases (which is a small fraction of the cases that are submitted and an even smaller fraction of the cases of injury that are not submitted)"

VICP court actually demonstrates just how rare serious vaccine reactions are - about 1 per million doses.  The argument that $3.3 Billion demonstrates wrongdoing on the part of anyone involved in vaccines backfires when one looks a the actual way VICP works:

Vaccine Injury Court: Here's the Truth

• "Vaccines contain numerous carcinogenic substances."

The amount of chemicals in vaccines are so small that they do not pose any carcinogenic concerns.  A common example is formaldehyde where the amount contained in a vaccine is much smaller than the human body normally produces in a day.  

Toxic Myths About Vaccines
Are Vaccine Evaluated For Mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity, or Impairment of Fertility?

• "Recent studies showed that many of the common childhood vaccines tested positive for high levels of glyphosate. ( Monsanto's cancer causing pesticide)"

There are not "high levels of glyphosate" in vaccines.  This is simply another "poisoning the well" fallacy taking advantage of irrational anti-GMO fears.

Glyphosate in Vaccines

• "There are aborted human cell lines in vaccines as well as several different types of animal DNA"

No, there aren't cell lines nor DNA in vaccines.

DNA in Vaccines
Aborted Fetal Tissue

• "There has never been any study done showing injecting other DNA into the body is safe.

That would be because there isn't any DNA being injected via vaccination.

DNA in Vaccines

• "Vaccines are one of the top grossing products for the pharmaceutical industry."

No, they aren't.  Vaccines are profitable for pharmaceutical companies but make up a very small proportion of their profits.

Vaccines Are Profitable - So What?

• "All major vaccine companies have been convicted of fraud and the pharmaceutical industry is the biggest defrauder of the Federal Government under the False Claims Act."

Another "poisoning the well" logical fallacy.  Manufacturers have been involved in settlements but not for vaccines.  The actual biggest vaccine fraud of all time is the darling of anti-vaxxers:  Andrew Wakefield.

The MMR Vaccine and Autism:  Sensation, Refutation, Retraction, and Fraud

• "Your doctor is supposed to go through the vaccine insert and documented side effects with you before administering a vaccine. (This is rarely if ever done, which means you did not receive informed consent for a medical procedure.)"

The vaccine package insert wasn't written for the consumer and doctors aren't "supposed to go through" it with parents.  Package inserts aren't appropriate for informed consent.  At all. 

Vaccine Package Inserts - Debunking Myths

The CDC's Vaccine Information Statements are appropriate and the CDC says:  " But because they cover both benefits and risks associated with vaccinations, they provide enough information that anyone reading them should be adequately informed."  
CDC Vaccine Information Statements FAQ

• "The average doctor receives about 2 hours of vaccine education in their 4 years in medical school.

Medical school doesn't teach about the specifics of clinical practice but, instead, lays the foundation to understand those specifics.  In other words, we also don't learn to perform appendectomies or diagnose an ear infection in medical school but have the foundation laid via basic sciences (eg microbiology, anatomy, physiology, epidemiology, immunology, pharmacology) in order to understand when/why/how to perform those procedures or make those diagnoses. Far more than "2 hours" (ie YEARS) is spent on basic sciences directly related to understanding when/how/why we vaccinate.

• "SB277 was passed in California last year which stripped your parental rights for declining any of the recommended childhood Immunizations on the CDC schedule for your children to enter school."

SB277 removed non-medical vaccine exemptions in the state of California.  It has no effect on parental rights - of course parents can continue to choose not to vaccinate.  Once that choice is made (no choice has been "stripped"), then there are consequences to those choices and exercising that right to choose.  Disliking the consequences of a choice made isn't the same as no choice.  Nobody is forcibly vaccinated and nobody supports children being forcibly vaccinated.

• "The Senators that wrote the bill SB277, Richard Pan and Ben Allen, were aware of the CDC fraud and pushed the bill through without giving it a second thought."

There hasn't been any CDC "fraud".  See above re:  "spider scientists" and Thompson

• "There are hundreds of brilliant doctors and scientists all over the world that are speaking out against vaccines and the lack of safety surrounding them."

There aren't actually "hundreds" of doctors/scientists - most of them can be found here and what's conspicuously lacking are the credentials for them to be considered anything close to being vaccine experts.  Even if there were "hundreds", they are far far overshadowed by the hundreds of thousands of doctors and scientists worldwide who support vaccines:

Anti-vaccine Doctors - Naming Names and Listing Lists

• "Robert Kennedy and Robert De Niro offered a $100,000 reward to anyone that could provide a study showing the thimerosal containing flu shots (among others) given to pregnant women and babies are safe... ***AND NOT ONE PERSON HAS CLAIMED IT***"

Nobody has claimed it because it's a scam.  

Robert F Kennedy and Robert DeNiro Issue a 100000 Vaccine Challenge - It's Every Bit As Much As a Scam as Jock Doubleday's Vaccine Challenge